-
DE QUERVAIN’S SYNDROME
Also known as first dorsal compartment tenosynovitis…but it’s a lot easier to remember the name of the French dude who first described this pesky little condition; Fritz de Quervain. De Quervain’s syndrome describes a condition in which two tendons on the thumb side of the wrist get damaged and inflamed. No one’s really sure exactly why this happens. Maybe it’s because they rub against the prominent bump on the end of the wrist, or maybe the sheath or tube in which they travel gets too tight for the inflamed or damaged tendons. Suffice it to say that it’s another one of those adult repetitive strain conditions I’ve written about so…
-
FALL PREVENTION
You have to stay off the ground after 60. I’m not quite there, but I’ve been working on staying clear of the ground for years. I’m really focusing on falling down to the ground in this blog. That’s a fast and dangerous way to get down there and you’re all doing it way to often! Once you start to fall then anything goes. When you land you might break a bone, and depending on which bone, it can totally alter the quality of your life! But at best you’re going to bruise something that’s going to take a while to heal. In my practice I see a bunch of fallers…
-
KNEE CAP PAIN AND CRUNCHING
I feel compelled to write about knee cap pain again. Many of you have already read my earlier blog on this subject. It was my very first post! Do Not Do Squats Today I saw 6 women in my office with knee cap pain and crunching. All but one had been participating in supervised exercise routines which made squats, deep knee bends and lunges the backbone of the program. Women have a physical predisposition to having pain around their knee caps. It has to do with the shape of our pelvis. We were put together for having babies but not so much for running stairs and doing squats. And in…
-
TENNIS ELBOW OR LATERAL EPICONDYLITIS
I had this for over a year! I remember reaching for something heavy and feeling a burning sensation across the outside of my elbow. I immediately knew that I had tennis elbow…or lateral epicondylitis. I usually see those patients sometime between one month and 6 months after the onset of pain. Usually sometime after they’ve continued to “work through” the pain. And if you’ve been reading my blog, you already know that doesn’t work. I immediately iced it and downed a couple of Aleves. I already had a wrist brace sitting around the house which I occasionally used when my carpal tunnel flared up. You probably wouldn’t have one of…
-
A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favorite things… Over the years I have collected a list of items I often recommend that my patients purchase. I’m going to go through a few of those items as we go into the holiday season, because they would make great gifts and stocking stuffers. And there’s nothing that says you can’t get one of these things for yourself! I own every one of them. I’ve already mentioned Bucky Eye Shades in my blog on Sleep Deprivation. Blocking out extraneous light is a…
-
SHOULDER BURSITIS & IMPINGEMENT SYNDROME
I know you’ve seen me write about the numbers of patients I see each day with the various disorders about which I have written. If you add them up, they might come out to more than the number of patients I see each day. But remember that some patients come with several complaints! I just had to qualify that so I can now tell you that EVERY day in my clinic I see at least five patients with shoulder bursitis and its related disorders; rotator cuff impingement, tendonitis, rotator cuff tears and problems with the biceps tendon. First a little anatomy and physiology. We just got done talking about hip…
